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Racial Equity and Health Policy

Racism, Discrimination and Health

Health Coverage by Race and Ethnicity, 2010-2024

This brief examines trends in health coverage by race and ethnicity from 2010 through 2024. Since 2010, there have been large gains in health coverage across racial and ethnic groups but racial and ethnic disparities in coverage persisted. The largest gains occurred after implementation of the ACA coverage expansions in 2014.

In 2024, the overall uninsured rate increased for the first time since 2019 as pandemic-era continuous enrollment in Medicaid came to an end, with significant increases among Hispanic, Black, and White people under age 65. Coverage disparities have persisted over time and, in some cases, widened despite earlier gains under the ACA.

Racial Disparities in Life Expectancy

The Growing Use of Artificial Intelligence in Health Care and Implications for Disparities

KFF Survey on Racism, Discrimination and Health: Views on Racism and Trust in Key U.S. Institutions

Elimination of Federal Diversity Initiatives: Updates and Current Status

the Essentials

  • How Experiencing Racial Discrimination Impacts Health

    This brief highlights research examining mechanisms underlying health outcomes linked to self-reported experiences of racial discrimination, including biological changes, chronic stress, mental health, substance use, pregnancy-related outcomes, and sleep.

  • Timeline: How History Has Shaped Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities

    This timeline offers a historical view of significant U.S. federal policies and events spanning the early 1800s to today that have influenced present-day health disparities.

  • Health Policy 101: Chapter on Race, Inequality and Health

    Addressing persistent racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care is important for improving the nation’s health and economic prosperity. KFF explains such disparities and the factors that drive them, examines the actions to address them, and outlines future considerations.

  • Key Data on Health and Health Care by Race and Ethnicity

    Racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care remain a persistent challenge in the United States. An updated KFF resource examines how people of color fare compared to White people across 64 measures of health, health care, and social determinants of health.
Interactive Timeline

How History Has Shaped Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities: A Timeline of Policies and Events

This interactive timeline explores how history has shaped racial and ethnic health disparities and the lasting effects that persist to this day.

The timeline describes major U.S. federal policies and events since the early 1800s that are linked to present-day health disparities. It also covers policies that impact health coverage and access to care, medicine, and social and economic policies that influence health as well as efforts to tackle inequalities.

Survey of Immigrants

KFF-New York Times Survey: Immigrants Report Rising Fear, Negative Economic and Health Impacts, and Changing Political Views During the First Year of President Trump’s Second Term

The 2025 Survey of Immigrants, a partnership between KFF and The New York Times, takes an in-depth look at the experiences of immigrants during the first year of President Trump’s second term, including their worries related to increased immigration enforcement, their health and economic wellbeing, and the political views and preferences of immigrant voters. The survey paints a portrait of families under strain — where fear of detention and economic instability are negatively impacting immigrants’ health and reshaping immigrant families’ daily lives and views of U.S. political parties.

Read the News Release | Explore The New York Times’ Reporting

Immigrants

Many Lawfully Present Immigrants Will Lose Health Coverage Due to the 2025 Tax and Budget Law

This policy watch outlines the groups of lawfully present immigrants that will lose access to federally funded health coverage due to new restrictions on eligibility in the 2025 tax and budget law.
It also highlights the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) estimates of the number of lawfully present immigrants who will become uninsured due to the provisions, as well as estimated federal savings that will result.
CBO estimates that the law’s restrictions on eligibility will result in 1.4 million lawfully present immigrants becoming uninsured and reduce federal spending by $131 billion by 2034.

Related: Key Facts on Health Coverage of Immigrants

Recent State Actions Related to Immigrants’ Access to Services and Immigration Enforcement

Health Issues for Immigrants in Detention Centers

Policy Bars Many Immigrants from a Broad Range of Federal Health and Social Supports

Role of Immigrants in the Hospital Workforce

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  • Quick Takes: Timely insights and analysis from KFF staff

    Race Is a Social Category, Not a Biological One

    Quick Insights

    Sen. Angela Alsobrooks questioned [Kennedy] about earlier statements he has made suggesting that Black people should not adhere to the same vaccine schedule as White people because “their immune system is better than ours.” … Race is a poor proxy for genetic ancestry and large genetic studies have demonstrated more variation within defined racial groups (intra-racially) than there are between different racial groups (inter-racially).

  • Immigrants and Health Coverage:  A Primer

    Issue Brief

    Immigrants and Health Coverage: A Primer A major challenge facing many immigrants is lack of health insurance coverage. This primer provides an introduction to some of the questions surrounding immigrants and health insurance coverage. Issue Brief (.pdf)

  • The Medicare Program: Panorama General De Medicare

    Fact Sheet

    Que Es El Medicare Y Como Se Financia? Medicare es un programa de seguro medico nacional que atiende a 39 millones de ancianos y discapacitados. Antes de la existencia del Medicare, menos de la mitad de todos los norteamericanos de edad avanzada contaban con un seguro medico. Hoy en dia, practicamente todos los adultos de 65 anos de edad mayores se encuentran asegurados bajo Medicare. Medicare cubre a 34 millones de beneficiarios ancianos y a…

  • Racial/Ethnic Differences in Cardiac Care: The Weight of the Evidence

    Report

    Numerous studies over the past two decades have documented racial and ethnic differences in care for heart conditions. To assess the quality of the evidence and to summarize the information for a physician audience, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation collaborated with the American College of Cardiology Foundation to review the body of research on racial/ethnic differences in cardiac care. There is credible evidence that minority patients are less likely than white patients to receive…

  • American Indians and Alaska Native: Health Coverage and Access to Care

    Fact Sheet

    A study of American Indians' and Alaska Natives' access to health care, conducted by researchers from the Urban Institue, University of Arizona and the Kaiser Family Foundation, identifies some of the health policy challenges this population faces. The study was originally published in the Janurary issue of the American Journal of Public Health - a link to the abstract is listed below. Two additional documents were created to accompany the study. A fact sheet titled…

  • What Have We Learned and Where Do We Go From Here? Three Years of the National Healthcare Disparities Report

    Event Date:
    Event

    The first National Healthcare Disparities Report was issued by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in 2003. Now, three years later, the Kaiser Family Foundation hosts a forum to discuss what has been learned following the release of AHRQ's latest progress report on disparities, and how that information can guide us going forward. During the forum, panelists and the audience discuss how the report can inform policy, research and efforts of health plans and…

  • How Does Health Coverage and Access to Care for Immigrants Vary by Length of Time in the U.S.?

    Issue Brief

    This analysis, based on data from the 2007 Health Tracking Household Survey, examines how health coverage and access to care for non-elderly adults vary based on immigrants’ length of time in the U.S. and between immigrants, second generation Americans and third generation and higher Americans. It also identifies the primary factors contributing to lower health coverage rates and greater access barriers among immigrants. While, overall, immigrants have a high uninsured rate and face greater access…

  • Health Coverage and Access to Care Among Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

    Fact Sheet

    A new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum examines the health coverage, access to health care, and health status of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander ethnic groups in the United States, and finds that certain subgroups are doing much worse than others in terms of health insurance coverage and access to health care. For example, Korean Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are about…

  • Medicaid Financing Cliff: Implications for the Health Care Systems in Puerto Rico and USVI

    Issue Brief

    This brief provides an overview of the status of the health care systems and Medicaid programs in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) about one and a half years after Hurricanes Irma and Maria struck the islands in September 2017. The hurricanes exacerbated the territories’ existing economic and health care challenges by accelerating outmigration of residents and health care providers and destroying homes, schools, health care facilities, and other infrastructure. After the storms,…

  • Abismo en el financiamiento de Medicaid: Implicaciones para los sistemas de atención de salud de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes de los EE.UU.

    Issue Brief

    Este resumen ofrece una descripción general del estado de los sistemas de atención médica y los programas de Medicaid en Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes de los EE.UU. (USVI) aproximadamente un año y medio después que los huracanes Irma y María azotaran las islas, en septiembre de 2017. Después de las tormentas, los programas de Medicaid de los territorios han servido como recursos importantes para atender las necesidades de atención médica de los residentes,…